Concept

Esau

Summary
Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The Christian New Testament alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews. According to the Hebrew Bible, Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the elder brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites. Jacob and Esau were the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, and the grandsons of Abraham and Sarah. Of the twins, Esau was the first to be born with Jacob following, holding his heel. Isaac was sixty years old when the boys were born. Esau, a "man of the field", became a hunter who had "rough" qualities that distinguished him from his twin brother. Among these qualities were his redness and noticeable hairiness. Jacob was a plain or simple man, depending on the translation of the Hebrew word tam (which also means "relatively perfect man"). Jacob's color was not mentioned. Throughout Genesis, Esau is frequently shown as being supplanted by his younger twin, Jacob (Israel). According to the Muslim tradition, the prophet Yaqub or Israel was the favorite of his mother, and his twin brother Esau was the favorite of his father prophet Ishaq, and he is mentioned in the "Story of Ya'qub" in Qisas al-Anbiya. Genesis 25:25 narrates Esau's birth, "Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau." The meaning of the word esau itself is not entirely certain. Others have noted the similarity to Arabic ’athaa (عثا) meaning "hirsute". The name Edom is also attributed to Esau, meaning "red" (Heb: admoni); the same color used to describe the color of Esau's hair. Genesis parallels his redness to the "red lentil pottage" that he sold his birthright for. Esau became the progenitor of the Edomites in Seir. In Genesis, Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields. He begs Jacob to give him some "red pottage" (a play on his nickname, אדום Edom, meaning "red".) This refers to his red hair.
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List of minor Hebrew Bible figures, A–K
This article contains persons named in the Bible, specifically in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, of minor notability, about whom little or nothing is known, aside from some family connections. Abdeel (Ab'dē el) (Hebrew עַבְדְּאֵל "servant of God"; akin to Arabic عبد الله Abdullah) is mentioned in Jeremiah 36:26 as the father of Shelemiah, one of three men who were commanded by King Jehoiakim to seize the prophet Jeremiah and his secretary Baruch. The Septuagint omits the phrase "and Shelemiah son of Abdeel", probably a scribal error due to homoioteleuton.
Cave of the Patriarchs
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Lot (biblical person)
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